When the Shore Meets the Sea
by qveenronspeirs
Summary: As the shore meets the sea, it slowy washes away rock and soil, uncovering what lays beneath. Just like he is the shore, she is the sea. Slowly, he crumbles to reveal his true self to her during desperate times.


The air was dry and warm but a soft breeze could be felt by Lucy McCarney. It was the most peace she had felt in the last six weeks. She and a group of fifteen women had been at Camp Toccoa since late March, after previously receiving training in Bletchley Park to be a code breaker.

"And what do you think you're doing Miss…?" The man speaking to her, Captain Sobel, barked at the brunette with wavy, shoulder length hair as if he hadn't met her weeks before or had multiple run-ins.

Lucy was pulled from her thoughts and immediately stood at attention. "Sergeant McCarney, sir. I was just admiring the view." Her English accent was thick when she responded to the Captain's question. Her answer wasn't intended to be sarcastic, but knew that once the words left her lips, she would regret talking.

"Well, you're going to enjoy the view even more because you just bought your men a run, _Sergeant_." He spoke so vehemently towards her, Lucy couldn't help but wonder if a woman had scorned him shortly before his enlistment.

* * *

The run up Currahee wasn't as bad as she remembered, sure it was hot and her feet were starting to hurt, but the camaraderie that had been forming between her and the men was something special. Sobel was continuing to bark out atrocities at each of the men, picking on a flaw of theirs. However, he was almost immediately silenced as George Luz began to sing, and was joined by other men of the company.

"_We fall upon the risers,  
We fall upon the grass.  
We never land upon our feet,  
We always hit on our ass!_

_Mighty, mighty, Christ Almighty,  
Who the hell are we?!  
Zim, zam, goddamn,  
We're airborne infantry!"_

It was amazing to hear the voices join together, almost as if they were in protest against their current Captain, even Dick Winters joined in solidarity.

As they came down the mountain towards their goal, Lucy could feel a pair of eyes on her, almost observing her every move. Slowing down her run to a jog, she found eyes so brown they could be considered black staring at her. The eyes belonged to a man named Ronald Speirs, a platoon leader who presided over D Company. Lucy could feel their eyes lock on each other momentarily before he looked away. She hardly knew anything about that man, except the fact that he kept his men in check almost like Sobel, but the company actually liked him. Speirs was a man who showed no emotion to anyone and was of few if not no words to most, so the question of why he was staring at her may never be answered.

"Hey, speedster!" The voice of George Luz came up next to her and immediately had her attention. "Whatcha starin' at?" He looked over to where Lucy had been staring just as she looked back to where Speirs was standing but the pair saw nothing but their quarters.

"Nothing, Luz. Just was taking a minute to catch my breath." It wasn't a lie, but even if she had told him she was staring at Speirs, she wouldn't have been able to explain why.

* * *

Slipping on a fresh pair of trousers and her white physical training shirt, Lucy felt clean and ready to meet the companies for dinner at the mess hall. There were very few women who had volunteered to go work in the field with the men, but because she had been one of them, she was lucky enough to have her own room.

"Sergeant McCarney!" Dick Winters warm voice caught her as she was walking out of her room. "Would you mind joining us for a quick briefing before we go to the mess hall?"

She nodded curtly at his request and walked side by side to Captain Sobel's quarters. Inside the room was Sobel, along with Nixon and Welsh from Easy and Speirs and Williams from Dog Company.

"We have our orders to ship out to England in thirty-six hours. Looks like we'll be stationed in Albourne for more training before heading out. Inform your men after dinner and have them start to prepare." Sobel spoke curtly and dismissed the offices to continue their way to the mess hall.

As Lucy headed to dinner with the rest of the officers, she was startled by a softer, yet still authoritative voice.

"Sergeant McCarney," First Lieutenant Ronald Speirs spoke to her.

Him directly speaking to her came as a shock, as their only other interaction had been him staring her down as she and the company came in from physical training. "Yes, sir?"

"I couldn't help but notice your accent when you spoke to Private Luz.. It isn't American at all," he inconspicuously eyed her up and down, noticing the simple white shirt and trousers she wore compared to the brown long sleeved shirt he had opted for. "May I ask where you're originally from and how you came to join?"

"I suppose you may." A small chuckle left Lucy's lips as she heard his question. Truthfully no one had really given a second thought to her accent, they all just went along with it. "I'm from a small town in England, called Bletchley. I was recruited by a local brochure in the paper. There was a crossword puzzle to solve and I was one of the few gals who finished that." She had been quite proud of that accomplishment, especially once she realized that there were only a handful of people to complete the crossword at all. "But now that you know a little about me, it's only fair that you answer a question of mine."

With a subtle nod, Ron spoke, "Go on."

"What made you join the service?" Ron Speirs was one of the few remaining people at Camp Toccoa that hadn't shared his story, which made Lucy even more drawn to the unknown man.

As they approached the dining hall, Ron stopped outside the entrance before speaking. "I answered the call to fight. My father had been in the service years before and I felt as a citizen, it was only the right thing to do." His answer wasn't too in depth, but gave the general idea he was feeling when he enlisted.

"My father had also served in the first great war, been injured in fact." Lucy spoke solemnly, and continued in a sadder tone, "he had been such a part of my life, but I wasn't able to share my news of finishing the crossword with him." She remembered how ill her father had been when she was working on the puzzle. Lucy would sit at the foot of his bed and read the clues aloud in hopes that one may wake him up enough to answer, however that hadn't been the case. Her father had been comatose and bed-ridden with an infection for sometime, all caused by a bullet still lodged in his body from the first war. Realizing they were still standing outside, she couldn't help but motion for him to follow her.

"What do you mean by _had_?" Ron questioned her as she led them to line up for food, not noticing the staring eyes of the men on them.

As they each grabbed a tray and followed the mess hall counter, Lucy continued her story, "He passed shortly before I was able to join." She did her best to not let her voice quiver, not wanting the man next to her know she was still grieving his death.

Ron took note of the way her eyes glossed over ever so slightly, and figured it would be best to let the subject go. "I'm sorry for your loss," his voice was low as the man behind the counter slopped the meat looking casserole onto each of their trays.

"Never apologize for things out of your control," she spoke and glanced around the room, noticing Luz and Perconte sitting and laughing at something someone had said. "I suppose I better be joining them. It was nice speaking with you, Lieutenant." She gave a nod and turned to walk toward the table.

* * *

The battalion had only been in England for a little over a day, but that didn't mean there was time to rest in between trainings, they were fighting a war of course.

"I don't understand…" Captain Sobel stated with distraught. He looked down at the map the trainers had provided him and then back at the wire fence in front of hm. "This fence isn't supposed to be here."

Lucy may have only had code training but even she could figure out that Sobel didn't understand how to lead a platoon in the field. They were absolutely lost. She couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, only to receive the death glare from Sobel.

"Luz, take these men and hide behind the bushes while we sort this out." Sobel tried his best to keep his voice steady and watched the men retreat to the shrubs. "McCarney!" His voice immediately changed to an angry tone, "What do you suggest we do here?" He narrowed his eyes again at her, asking a rhetorical question to which there was no right answer.

"Well, sir…" She certainly had no clue what do, other than to suggest he give command to someone more competent, but she'd be shot for that answer.

Before anything more could be discussed, a booming voice came from beyond the bushes. "What is the goddamn hold up Mister Sobel?!" The voice was loud and heavy, reminding Lucy of Colonel Sink, but she knew better and could only suspect it to be the voice work of none other than George Luz.

"Uh… A fence, sir! Our path is blocked by a fence!" Since he had never initially or ever bonded with the men, Sobel had no idea that he was being pranked by one of his own men.

Behind the bushes, George Luz and the rest of the platoon had to hold in their laughs, and bewilderment that Captain Sobel actually believed someone so high up had joined them on their training exercise. "Well!" Luz carried on the jig, throwing a hand to his mouth to stifle the laugh, "You cut that fence and get this goddamn platoon on the move!"

Sobel's eyes widened as he immediately began searching his jacket for wire cutters, "Yes, sir!"

As Lucy watched in astonishment, she couldn't believe the picture unfolding in front of her. However, without another blink, she and the rest of the men were through the fence and on their way to meet up with first platoon.

* * *

"What in god's name made you cut that fence and let that poor farmer's cows loose?!" Lieutenant Meehan was fuming with rage at the stupidity of his own Captain. There was nothing anyone could do to fix the common sense part of someone's brain.

"I acted on orders from Colonel Sink," Sobel had no idea what the issue was, especially since he was ordered to do that in the first place. Lucy stood behind her superior officer and watched uncomfortably as Sobel was being reprimanded, as much as he deserved to be.

"Colonel Sink," Meehan carried on with an exasperated sigh, "Colonel Sink is on leave in London." He watched how Sobel's eyes grew wide with fear and understood that maybe he was fooled into this stunt, but that was no excuse. As an executive officer, he needed to use his brain and common sense at all times.

* * *

"The cows were running amok!" Lucy was snorting at the memory of the fence incident with Sobel as she recounted it with Nixon and Winters inside the officer quarters. As she was finishing her story, a daunting looking Speirs joined the trio and smirked at the idea of Sobel being made to look like a fool.

"It's about time he learned how to be a soldier." The smirk on his face only grew as he imagined Sobel being reprimanded for his actions. "I wonder how much longer he'll be in charge of this whole thing."

Both Nixon and Winters looked at Speirs with a look of bewilderment, astonished that someone would actually say what they were all thinking aloud. The comment from Speirs was enough to send Lucy into full on laughter. If only God was on their side would Sobel be transferred.

* * *

It came as a shock to no one when the word got around the Sobel had been reassigned, with Lieutenant Meehan taking his place. However, the news that they would be jumping soon was hard to swallow, and became even harder when their first attempt had been canceled due to inclement weather. Today, was going to be the night of nights for them all.

Lucy was kneeling on the ground double checking her supplies when a shadow darkened the bag in front of her. Looking up, she recognized the stiff stance of Lieutenant Speirs. As she pushed herself off the ground, she couldn't help but notice that he was wearing a leg bag and only had a backpack on along with his rifle slung over his shoulder.

"Do you have everything you need?" His voice was calm compared to the others she heard talking around her. It was refreshing to take a break from packing and nice to have her mind wander for a minute.

With a nod, Lucy glanced down at the two bags on the ground behind her and nodded, "I believe so. I couldn't help but notice you don't have a leg pack. Are you prepared?" Immediately she regretted how rude her words sounded. He was one of the highest functioning men she had ever met, of course he was prepared.

The question didn't waver Speirs or make him angry. He felt it only fair to be asked the same thing, especially since _she _was one of the most prepared people he met. "I'm as prepared as when the sea meets the shore." He spoke with a chuckle, something that came as a surprise to her since the jump was such a serious matter.

The sea meets the shore? Lucy had never heard that expression before and was curious as to where he had picked it up. "What do you mean by the sea meeting the shore?" She asked inquisitively, noticing the small smirk that graced his face.

"My father used to say that to my mother and I growing up. It's as if something untamed and wild is greeting something sturdy and steady. An unrelenting force wearing the other down." Ron remembered the many times his father would respond to his mother with that same expression and how she would laugh at him. In a way, Lucy reminded him of her, the way she spoke gently and her beauty. He quickly shook the thought from his mind. There was no place for thoughts like those in a place they were in.

"He sounds poetic, very charming to me actually." She couldn't help but return the smirk Ron held on his face. Lucy found it funny that he had a father who spoke so smoothly when she hardly ever heard Ron speak at all. But perhaps since she was getting to know him better, there would be more conversations down the line, if they were to survive.

"I wouldn't necessarily use poetic to describe him," another chuckle passed Ron's lips as he continued, "but very much a character all on his own."

As the conversation dwindled down, the pair each looked around at the men surrounding them. To anyone who didn't know, it would have resembled chaos, but to Ron and Lucy, it was organized chaos.

"Well, Lieutenant Speirs…" Lucy's voice trailed off, not knowing what to say next. "I suppose we both better head to our appropriate lines." She could feel a sense of nervousness grow in her stomach, but knew that out of anyone here, the man in front of her could handle whatever would happen out there.

With a curt nod, Ron agreed, "I hope to see you on the other side."

_Hope… _She thought curiously, what an odd word to use at a time like this. Deep down though, she knew why he chose it. There was no guarantee they would ever see each other again.


End file.
